Superintendent of public buildings Wayne Walkden was characteristically understated when asked this week about the renovation project inside Taunton’s temporary City Hall.

“We’ve made some changes here,” he said.

The former Lowell M. Maxham Elementary School at 141 Oak St. has been undergoing some rather significant structural changes over the past two months.

In October 2012, Walkden asked City Council to allocate $125,500 for electrical and structural repairs and improvements to the former elementary school.

Since a 2010 arson fire at City Hall on Summer Street, the single-story building, has been used as a temporary City Hall.

The council agreed with Walkden that some upgrades were necessary, but only gave him $63,000.

The repairs include the installation of more electrical circuits — allowing the use of more air conditioners — as well as removal of asbestos in crawl spaces and renovations to bathrooms in accordance with Americans with Disabilities Act.

Walkden said it also will facilitate the consolidation of the offices of the treasurer/collector and auditor — both of which relocated to free space at Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant’s corporate building at 55 Weir St. after the fire.

During the past year and a half, city officials have acknowledged it could take years before the downtown City Hall is repaired and ready for occupancy.

And the TMLP, despite their generosity, have let it be known that they would appreciate again having unfettered access to the conference rooms that used to be home to the treasurer and auditor departments.

“The TMLP was great. They were very patient with us,” Walkden said. “But it became apparent that they were packed in like cattle.”

The good news, Walkden said, is not just that city auditor Ann Hebert and her staff have been ensconced in a refurbished Oak Street office formerly used by the city’s engineer, who has relocated into the DPW’s corporate facility on Ingell Street.

Walkden says treasurer Barbara Auger and her staff will be in the Maxham building with everyone else within a week and a half.

“We’re working hard to get this building as code compliant as we can [because] chances are we’ll be here for a period of time,” Walkden said.

The City Council and Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. have yet to select one of three design options formulated by an architectural company to repair historic city hall.

Walkden estimates it will take another two years to finalize that plan, line up financing and renovate the downtown structure.

All the work at Maxham is being done in-house by building department personnel, Walkden said.

Open space near the front door previously occupied by the mayor’s secretary Mimi Punda is being converted into a tax-payment collection center.

Page 2 of 3 - Punda now works in an open space against a far wall where new windows have been installed. The wall, which Walkden said had deteriorated and was “full of bugs,” has been completely rebuilt.

A wood railing partition made of dark-hued mahogany was “canibalized” from benches left over from the building’s school days, Walkden said.

“Our guys milled it down,” he said.

All four bathrooms are going to be refurbished to comply with ADA standards. The new treasurer’s office desks with overhead bins, purchased from W.B. Mason, were paid with insurance money collected as result of the city hall fire.

Walkden says roof guards have been installed outside above the front entrance to keep snow from falling down onto visitors. A gutter is also in place now to prevent not just water from dripping onto people’s heads but also the formation of ice in winter.

Hoye said the improvements will be worth it in the long run.

“From a management standpoint alone we need to be under one roof,” he said.

Hoye said after city departments move back to Summer Street the Maxham building will likely be used by one or more of the other departments that still work off-site, which include the department of parks and recreation, health board, city planner, conservation commission and Taunton’s office of economic and community development.

Walkden said his departments will devise a new and more visible city hall sign that will be placed closer to the front sidewalk.

But he said he’s particularly concerned about parking. Walkden said the 40 or so parking spaces on either side of the building are inadequate, especially considering the additional traffic from residents paying tax bills.

He wants to double the number of parking spaces to at least 80, pave the larger dirt lot, re-stripe the area on both sides, add a retaining wall and stairway and install better drainage.

“I consider it to be a safety issue,” Walkden said.

But he said he doesn’t know where he’ll get the money. In the meantime, Walkden says he’ll consult with the DPW, City Engineer Mark Slusarz and BETA engineering group, the latter of which works with and advises the DPW.

Former Mayor Charles Crowley said he’s pleased to know that the city is fixing up the Maxham building.

Crowley says he remembers how more than two years ago the city council rejected a request to provide money for upgrades. But he says he understands their reasons at the time.

“We never thought we would be here that long,” he said.

Crowley says he also remembers paying out of pocket that first summer for room fans and ice cream to help city workers endure a brutal heat wave.

Page 3 of 3 - The Maxham school was built by the Gilbane constrcution company of Providence and opened in 1954, Crowley said.